


Taste of Home

by Writerleft



Series: Comes Marching Home [34]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Blood, Dinner, F/F, Family, Gore, Korrasami - Freeform, Korrasami Month 2018, Meal, korrasami cooking lessons, tradition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 21:27:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17149373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerleft/pseuds/Writerleft
Summary: Every family has culinary traditions they bond over.Why, oh why, did Korra's family have to bond over something so... messy?!





	Taste of Home

**Author's Note:**

> tw: semi-graphic depictions of food butchery, blood mentions

Asami squatted on the floor, chewing her lip as she regarded the seal carcass in the middle of her kitchen. Tarp bunched up under her feet as she shifted, looking at the dead animal as if there might be some angle from which it would look less like a dead animal. She adjusted her grip on her knife--underhand? overhand?--wondering if, perhaps, there was a way to hold it that would allow it to do it’s work without her. 

She’d read up on this, extensively, even practiced it a couple times in secret in the Southern Water Tribe cultural center. Enough, she’d thought, to turn it into a technical problem. Simple disassembly, stripping it for parts. It seemed easy enough with a trained hand to guide her, in a place prepared for just such activities. 

It was altogether different doing it on her own kitchen floor. 

Laughter from the hall outside the apartment, keys jingling in the door. Asami bolted to her feet, setting the knife on the counter then rushing to lean in the kitchen doorway. 

“Hey!” Korra smiled at her, taking a moment lingering in her face before looking at the rest of her and quirking her head. “What are you wearing?” 

Painter’s overalls were the best thing she could think of to keep herself clean--and she wouldn’t mind throwing them away afterwards. She looked past Korra, and greeted, “Senna! Tonraq! How was your trip?” 

“The seas were a little choppy,” Tonraq said, pulling Senna’s coat off to hang by the door.  

“It’s good to see you,” Senna said, pulling her arms free and coming in for a hug. 

Without thinking, Asami hugged her back--giving Senna a view of the kitchen. 

“Oh!” Senna said, her body jolting. “That’s… a seal, there.” 

“Yeah,” Asami said, pulling out of the hug, pressing her lips together and forcing herself not to look at the floor. “I… wanted you two to feel at home, visiting us for the first time.”

Korra craned her head, trying to look into the kitchen. “What’s going… Asami, you found a  _ seal _ ?” 

“A Northern one, if that’s okay,” Asami said. “I also got some berries, some arctic tubers, I’m boiling a pot of seaweed... “ 

“Oh goodness!” Senna said, a hand resting on Asami’s arm. “That’s so sweet of you! Do you mind if I take a look?” 

“No, not at all!” Asami said, stepping out of the way. As Korra’s parents ducked into the kitchen, Korra herself pulled Asami into the living room. She whispered, “What’s all this?”

“A surprise?” Asami shrugged. “You don’t think they’re offended, are you?” 

“No, no of course not! Just… I don’t think they wanted to spend their first evening after a long trip cutting up a seal for us!” 

“We’re going to do it.” 

Korra blinked. “What?” 

“I wanted to show them I’m comfortable with your traditions. You’re my family, that makes them family, this is a traditional family thing, and since this is our household…” 

“Asami… I don’t really know how to do that.”

“You don’t?!” 

“It wasn’t exactly a high White Lotus priority!” Korra said. “Mom and Dad tried to show me a few things, here and there, but I was more interested in bending than how to use a knife!” 

Asami licked her lips. She’d learned a…  _ bit _ at the cultural center, and she’d studied a lot of anatomy for her biomimicry designs, but without Korra’s help…

“You really must like suckleberries!” Tonraq called from the kitchen. “Did you want me to rinse them, or--”

“No!” Asami called back, a little too forcefully, putting on a smile and barrelling back into the kitchen. “No, you two should rest from your trip!” 

“It’s no trouble at all,” Senna said, already squatting beside the seal. 

“Chieftain duties  _ have _ kept me from traditional meals like this for a while,” Tonraq said. 

“We’ll make sure you can enjoy this one!” Asami replied, moving himself being him. “You two go sit down, make yourselves at home--Korra, why don’t you give them the tour! I’ll get all the, um, implements ready.” 

“The implements,” Korra said, staring at the seal like it had just turned purple and began singing. “Right. You, uh, get those. Mom, Dad, let me, uh, show you our view…” 

Asami immediately set to work with her checklist, setting every metal and glass bowl they had in an array around the carcass. A bowl for the blood, to be made into stew, one for blubber, which got rolled onto the berries and also with the stew and a few other things... another bowl for the intestines, one for the brain…

Her own brain felt like it was sparking as she tried to remember everything at once. Where was she supposed to begin cutting again? 

“How are we supposed to do this?” Korra hissed.

“I thought you were giving them a tour!” 

“It’s an apartment! How long did you think that was going to take?” 

“Where are they now?” 

“On the balcony, admiring the weather.” 

“The balcony? It’s nearly freezing out there!”

“Compared to back home, ‘nearly freezing’ is short-sleeve weather.” 

They both looked down at the dead animal in their kitchen. 

“This is going to make a huge mess,” Korra said. 

“Hence the tarp,” Asami replied. “I got an extra pair of overalls... “ 

Korra shook her hands. “Nobody has special clothes for this back home. They just wash and wipe their hands a lot.” 

“Oh…” Asami swallowed. She must look even more ridiculous than she felt. “Should I change--”

“That would only draw attention to it, right?” 

Asami shrugged. 

They both looked down at the dead animal in their kitchen. 

“It’s not going to prepare itself,” Asami said, taking hold of the knife, then standing over it. I think we need to… drain the blood first?” 

“How fresh is it?” 

“Slaughered this morning,” Asami said, her stomach lurching. She didn’t think she’d want to eat for a week, but she knew she’d have to partake of every juicy, chewy, stringy, bloody part of this animal over the next… hour? Two hours? How long were these meals supposed to take?

“Oh. I think usually they’re half-frozen by the time we do this?” 

“What, really?” 

“It’s not like we can go down to the seal store and buy one!” 

“That’s exactly what I did.”

“I mean, back home! You had to go hunt one down, then bring it home over the snow, and by then…”

Asami held her hands against the back of her head, as if her own brain might escape. Especially considering what she intended to do to this seal’s brain… 

“I’m sure this will be fine,” Korra insisted. “I know some people eat right at the kill site, too. I’ve just never done it that way, myself.” 

Asami made fists in her hair, then took a deep breath and let go. She reached over for the knife. “Okay. Okay, we need to skin it first, I think.” 

“I’ve done that…” Korra said, glancing down at her fingerless gloves, then slipping them off. “Definitely, I’ve done that…” 

Asami knelt beside the seal again, pointedly not looking at its face. It had been quite the task, purchasing it, having it delivered, setting it out in the kitchen without looking at the face, but she’d managed and she wasn’t going to change that now. 

Korra knelt on the other side, the curved ulu blade in her hand, looking the seal right in the eyes. “What’s the plan of attack,” she asked. “Blubber with the skin?” 

“That’s how I saw them do it,” she said, leaning forward, knife down. “Maybe it’ll keep things… contained?” 

Korra steadies the carcass, licked her lips. “It’s all gotta come out somehow. 

Asami pressed the blade against the seal’s trachea. “How… How deep do I cut?” 

“I don’t know.” 

“I don’t want to slice open the organs…” 

“Maybe score it?” 

“Yeah… yeah, okay.” 

“Start with a cross-cut, Tonraq said from the door. 

Asami yelped, stabbing the knife diagonally into the seal’s throat as Korra reflexively yanked the seal toward her. She stared at it a moment, but smiled up at Tonraq. “You startled us,” she explained, as if that were not immediately obvious to everybody on the planet. “We can handle it though, don’t you worry!” 

Tonraq stepped back, but only to allow Senna equal access to the doorway. “Asami… this is very sweet--”

“You can thank me over dinner!” Asami said, shifting onto one knee and grasping the knife again. 

Korra’s parents looked at each other. 

Asami’s fingers tightened on the knife. Deep breath, and… 

She sliced cleanly around its neck, as Tonraq had reminded her, then again around the base of its tail. She shifted back to the head--paying only a little mind to the inefficiency--and started a new cut, straight along its belly, not quite all the way through the blubber. 

The kitchen was eerily quiet, only the gentle hum of the ice box and her own shaky breathing. Korra’s hands grabbed one side of the incision, Asami took the other, and they spread the blubber apart enough so Asami could get down to the dark meat underneath. 

Tonraq and Senna shifted, but Asami kept her focus--she was doing this for them, but she  _ couldn’t _ think of the fact that they were watching. Instead, she dwelled on the fact that she’d focused on the butchering itself, and some of the cooking, not what happened to the skin. What was she supposed to do with it, afterwards? 

Problem for later. Tenderly, an inch at a time, she sliced the blubber away. Not nearly as quickly as quickly as they’d done at the cultural center, but she couldn’t afford to mess this up, not now that she’d gone this far out of her way… 

Senna knelt behind her--when had she stepped into the kitchen?--offering her the ulu Korra had set down. “This might be a little easier,” she said. 

Asami froze, caught between looking unprepared and looking stubborn.

“I told her that was for later,” Korra lied. “Guess I remembered wrong.” She added a chuckle to sell it. 

Senna may or may not have believed her--but it let Asami save face. Spirits, she loved this woman! 

Tonraq moved around them, surprisingly graceful such a large man, and examined the stove. “Should I set a pot of water boiling, for the stew?”

Now he was showing her how to be efficient in her own home.  

He damned well knew better than her--but he phrased it like it was her decision. “That would be lovely, she smiled, forcing her teeth not to grit. 

This wasn’t going at  _ all _ like she’d envisioned. They were supposed to sit around the table, laughing and smiling together, and she and Korra took turns preparing and delivering choice sections of seal. Maybe it wouldn’t taste exactly like it was fresh off the tundra, but if they could be confident that Korra was in a good home, that Asami knew how to do things the Water Tribe way… 

The ulu  _ had _ made things a lot easier. She finished working one side, then started to move around the carcass when instead Korra gently touched her hand, taking the ulu herself. Asami wiped her forehead with her wrist--thinking only after the fact to make sure it wasn’t bloody--then started pulling the flesh back for Korra, switching roles. 

With a little less to concentrate on, Asami stole a few glances at her girlfriend. The focus on her face, the way her hair swayed as she moved, the tension in her muscles as she sliced… She wasn’t mad at Asami for this springing this on her, unexpectedly.  Or if she was, she wasn’t showing it. Instead, she was adapting, making Asami look good at her own expense if she had to...

Was she afraid of how her parents would accept Asami, too? 

Just as she thought that, Korra sliced open the actual meat of the seal, and out sagged it’s intestines, clear as day. 

Asami wobbled. 

Tonraq caught her. “Easy, there.” 

She blinked, staring at the bared viscera in her kitchen. She wasn’t prepared for this. Wasn’t ready to make this meal. Wasn’t ready to host Korra’s parents. Would they think she wasn’t ready to live with their daughter?  _ Was  _ she? 

Tonraq helped her to her feet. Korra handed him the ulu. “Trade you,” she said, taking Asami’s hand and leading her out of the room. 

It took her a few steps into the living room to realize how thoroughly she’d frozen up. How comprehensively she’d failed. 

By the time they got to the balcony, she’d begun to cry. 

Korra put her arm around her, waterbending the blood from their hands, then wiping away Asami’s tears. “It’s okay, Sparks. I promise, this is going way better than you think.” 

“I don’t  _ know _ what I was thinking!” Asami cried, hugging one of Korra’s arms, slouching down so Korra could envelop her. “All I did was prove how bad a fit I am--”

“Asami, no,” Korra said, petting her hair. “All you did was prove how far out of your comfort zone you are willing to get for this relationship. They know you don’t know how to butcher a seal!” Korra laughed. “They never would’ve expected you to!” 

“Not until I proved how unversed I am with your culture.” Asami curled up even smaller. “I even bought the right knife, then didn’t use it.” 

“Hey. Nobody’s asking you to become a Water Triber. You’ve already learned a lot and you have plenty of time to learn a little more, if you want! Besides, it's not like anybody expects me to  _ stop _ practicing my culture, just because we’re dating.” 

“Of course not,” Asami wiped her eyes. “I don’t have any parents for you to impress.” 

Korra reclaimed her arm, so she could squeeze Asami with all her might. “I love you. I love you, and nothing my parents could say would change that. I love you, and I know that they love you too, and I wish I knew the words I could say to make you realize that the only person testing you right now is yourself.” 

Asami took a deep, trembling breath. Of course. Of course she was--she always did. Set herself high standards, nearly impossible ones, tear herself down those times she couldn’t reach them.

She knew Senna and Tonraq approved of her. She knew they weren’t offended, if she’d let herself actually examine their reactions, and not simply what she was projecting onto them. 

She just… wanted so much to have a place in this family. To prove to  _ herself _ that she had a place with them. 

Wrapped in Korra’s arms, as Korra gently rocked her back and forth… there was no doubt Tonraq and Senna were aware what was happening out here on the balcony, just as there was no doubt that they wouldn’t say a word about it. 

How could she doubt that they made room for her? How could she doubt that she belonged? 

“You okay?” Korra asked, moments after Asami’s breathing normalized. 

Asami smiled--nothing got past Korra, these days. “I’m better,” Asami said. 

Korra kissed her. “And?” 

Asami laughed, smooched her back. “And I love you too. Now, let’s get back inside, it’s freezing out here.” 

“If you say so,” Korra laughed, but Asami was wise enough not to point out that she’d been shivering, too. 

When they returned to the kitchen, much of the butchery was done. Tonraq was braiding intestines to be boiled, while Senna was squatting beside the seal’s open skull, fishing out bits of brain. “I never would have thought it,” Senna said, not pausing for a moment but keeping Asami in the corner of her eye, “but you found an excellent specimen all the way up here. I figured all the Water Tribe people went native with what they ate.” 

“Most of the time, they do,” Korra said, crossing her legs as she sat. Asami stopped pretending to know what to do, and followed suit. “But once or twice a year, most families like to have a traditional meal like this. To celebrate births, that sort of thing. Family occasions.” 

“Then this is perfect,” Tonraq said, joining his family on the floor. 

Senna sliced herself a piece--Asami couldn’t place what part it was from, originally, and popped a bite in her mouth. Her hands were smeared with blood, but somehow she’d kept the rest of herself pristine. She nodded, approving, then gave a slice to Korra, then turned her eyes to Asami. 

Asami nodded. She’d tried most everything at the cultural center, she knew what she was getting into. Once she’d gotten over the oily texture, the flavors… still weren’t her favorite. But they were starting to grow on her. 

Even if they weren’t, she’d eat this whole seal herself for this family. 

She accepted, plopping the meat in her mouth and llicking the oily blood off her fingers. 

Senna smiled. “Asami… I really have to thank you for this. Tonraq and I had discussed inviting you to a traditional tribal family meal like this, but… we weren’t sure how you would react. This is so different from how you grew up, from the world you know… usually, people from other cultures find it pretty overwh… that is, intimidating.” 

“What Senna is trying to say,” Tonraq picked up for her, slicing himself a rib, “is that we’re really touched you’d make the effort to learn about our culture. Sitting together like this, picking out and sharing the choicest cuts... we're honored to share this with you. We already knew we liked you, but this really seals the deal.” 

Senna hung her head. Korra cackled, leaning forward, clapping her hands at the pun. 

“I’m afraid that humor is part of our culture, too,” Senna sighed. 

Asami smiled, and wiped away a tear. “Well…” she looked down at the expertly-disassembled pile of gore covering the floor of her kitchen, “I do have to admit, given how unfamiliar this was to me and how badly it could have backfired, for me to do this did take a lot of guts.” 

Tonraq snorted, covering his mouth as he coughed up what he was swallowing. Senna made a show of falling backwards against the cabinet, as if she’d been slain. 

“Welcome to the family,” Korra said, flashing her a bloody grin.   

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, if that's your thing :)


End file.
